A Merman's Trust
by UnleashedWriting
Summary: (MER!LOCK) Sherlock had grown up with his Mother in the sea, after being warned by his Mother that he should never go up to the surface on his own. On his sixth birthday he broke that rule leading to very bad consequences. Will scientist John Watson help the Mer to escape and earn Sherlock's trust? Or like every other human would he break that trust?
1. Chapter 1

The young Merman swam through the sea tides, laughing as he heard the calls of his mother behind him, swimming as fast as his little minty blue tail would take him, eyes open so very aware of his surroundings, of the world around him.  
A loud laugh left his lips as he saw the light shine through the surface of the water, swimming up higher and higher, reaching out and feeling his fingers escape the water and the cool air touching his skin next his head was the next to surface and a smile broke out onto his lips, seeing the world above the surface for the first time in his life.  
His mothers hand grabbed his wrist as she popped up beside of him, pulling her young five year old son closer to her chest protectively as a pathetic attempt to keep him safe from the evils humans that seemed to snatch away their kind and torture them for fun.  
''Mummy!" He whined, wiggling out of her arms, tail hitting against the water and causing a little slash that barely rippled the surface still not strong enough to cause much damage.  
''I am fine, Mummy, see! No nasty humans are around here! We are far far away from the land or any humans…! '' Sherlock exclaimed, gesturing towards the seemingly never ending view of water.

''No Sherlock, listen baby, it is not safe up here! They are boats that the humans use to be able to come far out into the ocean and steal us away from our family! You are /not/ allowed up here without me until I say so… Understand?'' She warned, wearing a stern look on her face and holding her son in his arms.  
The child sighed and looked around, splashing his hands around the water and huffing in annoyance wanting to explore and discover the world above the sea water.

''Alright mummy, I promise.'' He huffed, looking down and holding on tight to his mother. 

That promise was soon broken, Sherlock really did not mean to disappoint his mother… He never thought she would find out but to celebrate on his sixth birthday he decided to go and explore the surface by himself.  
Though when he popped up to the surface he found himself closer to the shore than he had meant to be. The massive flashy lights of the fun fair caught his eye, having never seen anything like it before, it was simply amazing… The bright lights, the music that was so much unlike his own mer folks songs of beauty and love.

Daringly he swam closer, and then closer, and closer until he was near a boat which he had thought was just docked up and unattended by any fishermen or mer hunter's. His eyes danced as he watched the human children run around on the warm looking sand, the older humans laying and staring up at the sky which the child mer really had no idea what they were doing but they seemed to be happy.  
Just as he was about to duck down into the water to go back home before he was missed the water began to shift around him, gasping and crying out as rope began to tighten and lift. Sherlock tried to dart under the water only to find that he was completely surrounded by net, a cry of fear leaving him as he tugged at the rope, trying desperately to escape, sobbing and crying as he was lifted up out of the water.

He tried to hit against his prison with his tail but it was still so weak, having not yet grown strong and dangerous, so failing to make any damage at all.

''Mummy! Mummy! Help me! " He screamed, gasping as he found himself completely lifted up out of the water and being lifted up into the air, lowered down on the deck of a ship, Human men surrounding the child.

He kept his mouth shut to make sure the men did not hear him speaking English so they would simply assume he had no idea how to speak so hopefully they would not force him into telling them were his family were.

''Well, well, well look what we have here!'' A human male boomed, opening up the net making Sherlock hit the deck.  
His tail slapped against the wood, gills opening and closing shocked by how much air was surrounding the mer used to so much water around him.  
His hands were grabbed and tried together with a thick rope so stop him lashing out, being picked up from under his arms and dragged over to an ice box, dropped in causing the boy to yell in shock at how freezing the water and ice was, splashing his tail and hitting against the glass before the lid was closed and locked up tight. That would be the last time he would see true sunlight and be surrounded by fresh air for a long time.


	2. Adapting to Magic

The next time Sherlock opened his eyes he was surrounded by water again, flooding him with relief assuming he was home, safe. His eyes stung and his dark curls floating around his head covering his eyes so he batted them away and wanted to cry at the sight he saw. Glass… Glass surrounded him in a box like cage, a tank.

He swam up towards the freezing cold glass that was containing him, the water was burning his skin and with inspection he realized it was not salt water, they was not even a grain of salt to be found no wonder he felt so sickly and dizzy, this was worse than being out in the open air for a long length of time!

Focusing his eyes he looked to the humans that were scurrying around the tank, typing away on strange devices, scribbling with pen to paper, examining what looked like to be scales under a microscope.

The child whimpered and floated away from the glass, flicking his tail he struggled to get up toward the surface, gasping as the warm air hit his face, expecting blue skies all he met with was a ceiling, just as if it was a bigger tank, he was locked in a building, goodness knows how far away from his home… his mother.

He placed his tiny hands on the ledge of the tank and peered over the platform, seeing a large staircase that lead from the ground up to the top of the tank, obviously so the humans can get up and down safely but just incase they was a metal gate at the top of the stairs in case the Mer managed to wiggle himself over to the stairs and fall down.  
Something else that caught Sherlock's attention was a rotten smell, familiar but awful, so when his eyes landed on a massive bucket of dead fish he wanted to gag in disgust, praying that the humans did not force him to eat just rotten food. He had never eaten a fish in his life… His mother only really fed him with seaweed and sea plants, sometimes shrimp but never ever fish, it was disgusting.

Sinking down in the water he allowed a tear to fall down his pale cheek, missing his mother and honestly… he was not only scared, he was terrified!

He stayed terrified for the next ten or eleven years, adapting to his new diet and way of life, but every single day in his prison he sang a song that would echo through the warehouse hoping that one day his mother would hear him and come steal him away and take him home.

Life was just swimming around in a circle and adapting and surviving on only a diet of fish and if he was lucky some crappy tiny prawns that were not at all as delicious at the big fat ones he and his mother would find.  
Now and again he would be partly lifted out of the water for them to take scaled from his tail, or examine his gills, even pulling strands of hair from his head to test and examine, but most of the time he was just swimming around looking pretty as he grew older and larger in the cramp tank.

Magic started to come to him on his tenth birthday, his soft songs became more of a enchantment on the humans, more than once they had absentmindedly climbed up the large stairs that would lead up to the top of the tank and try to reach into the water, to get closer to the beautiful Mer that they admired and in a way worshiped as though he was some kind of wish granter.

It always ended the same, the human male or female splashing into the water when they lost their balance on the edge of the ledge and the security team would rush up armed and prepared for an attack from the Merman which of case never would come, dragged the human out of the water and would punish the Mer by not feeding him again until the next evening.

Sherlock learnt to stop singing at all, unless he was sure they were no humans around which was every single night, the warehouse lights would be turned off apart from the tank light, signalling that it was night time and all the scientists were at home resting with their friends and families at the poor lonely Mer would swim around alone and amuse himself with his songs.

It was not until his fourteenth birthday that more magic came to him, one dull cold winter night he was floating above the surface water, singing softly up at the warehouse ceiling imagining in his mind's eye that he was gazing up at the moon and stars, oh how he missed watching the stunning reflection and the twinkling and the stories of stars being the Mer's ancestors gazing over them and protecting them from the evil human men.

He was pondering over his thoughts when he felt the water around him begin to move and swish around his tail, gasping he reached into the rapidly heating water that was beginning to boil and bubble and spread out his hand, not really knowing what he was attempting but it worked!

The water began to settle again and a thin sheet of ice began to cover the surface, in alarm he dove down back into the deep waters and stared up as the sheet connected together to form one massive sheet of thick ice, protecting him from the outside world.

It had taken him hours to figure out how to make the ice disappear again after somehow unknowingly making it appear.  
Of course this was another little secret he would keep from the humans, amusing himself once the lights were out and he was completely alone he managed to get a somewhat sort of control over his powers and tried to explore what else he could do.

In many ways it helped keep his curiosity alive, stopped him practically dying from boredom in the awful prison cell.

Though life was bearable, he was not being physically harmed all that much, and he was still alive… He still yearned to get home, safe and sound to his mother, just to know that she was safe and that she too knew that he was safe in return.

And maybe his chance to do that was going to happen sooner than he had ever imagined.


	3. It's About Time You Had A Friend

John Watson had not always worked in science. After leaving school he had enrolled into the army and served in Afghanistan for four whole years until his camp had been attacked, ending in him being sent home with traumatic PTSD, a bullet hole in his shoulder and a limp in his right leg. He had began volunteering his services in different fields of science until he was offered a top secret study working just outside of London. At first he had not been sure about the offer, not wanting to leave his cosy flat and move away from Harry and his few ex army friends, but upon hearing on what exactly he would be working out he was out of London in a flash.

A merman, A real life Mer creature. That he would be able to see with his own eyes, how could he refuse such an offer as that?! As a boy living beside the sea the tales of beautiful mermaids and tales of their powers and beauty had always captured the boy's imagination. Exploring the rock pools and collecting shells, exploring caves and paddling in the sea he had never found anything of interest apart from a few funny looking fish and a handful of crabs in which he would always run away screaming so they would not steal his toes off his feet.

His first day of work had left him almost terrified of the ocean being, even though he had not yet even lay his eyes upon the creature yet… not until the next week would he get a chance. But the health and safety precautions were enough to scare him even if the Mer was the sweetest thing in existence. Ear buds, to wear in case the said Merman would begin singing, a whistle in case he was to fall into the water, as well as a few gear to be able to stun the Mer if he was to attach viciously.

All of them knew the dangers they could be in, but Sherlock had never been violent towards any humans from what they had seen, but health and safety saw it was you can never be too prepared for an attack, ever.

It was the next week of him starting that he finally lay his eyes upon the famous Sherlock, the long minty blue tailed half human with his dark curls and eyes that matched his tail perfectly well. The Mer had been shocked to see a new face around his tank, he noticed the king face and the painful looking limp in his strange looking legs, but it was only one leg he noticed also. He soon got bored of staring dumbly at the new human so he swam off before he was caught, but this human kept catching his attention though the weeks that followed.

Since Sherlock had grown much older that he had been when he was captured, on his seventeenth birthday he heard the scientists discussing starting all the tests all over again to see if they was any chance in his body, purely for their amusement really. Flicking his tail in annoyance he behaved the worst he possibly could, splashing and soaking the human that tried to feed him, singing loudly and proudly his siren song and laughing in amusement as they humans covered their ears and tried to run from the warehouse. It gave Sherlock some time to himself at least without some stupid human prodding and poking him for a whole day since they knew he was in a bad mood with them.

It took almost a whole week till the Mer started behaving again and only then it was because he missed his shrimp and little treats, knowing that they would begin ''Rewarding'' him but really it would be bribing him to carry on being well behaved.

He continued to act accordingly until the experiments and taking of scaled from his tail began which simply left him not so much angry, but sad, missing home more than ever! He would curl up on the surface of the water, resting weakly and sighing sadly, only moving when he was told to or more likely, forced to.

It was not until late one winter night, the warehouse was freezing and in turn so was the water, he was practically shivering and coughing from the cold, his kind would swim to the hot Mediterranean waters in the winter, to keep their body heat warmer and simply to enjoy their swimming more instead of their bodies being cold and heavy, making swimming a chore. He kept heating up the water a little but knew that if he made the water deliciously warm the scientists would immediately notice the change of the temperature and they was only so many times it could be blamed on a faulty heater.

Sherlock was floating on the surface of the water, shivering slightly as he heard footsteps walking up the stairs, more like struggling up, but still. Having thought he was all alone he froze still, eyes wide and alert he dove down into the water, not knowing what was going on, the water was freezing his skin, making im tremble and shake so he really could not stay hidden underwater for a long amount of time. He sat though, on the surface, gripping the tank and digging his fingers against the tank to stop him floating up but eventually he was forced back up, body trembling as his eyes met with no other than John Watson.

John had seen how depressed the Merman had looked lately, so down and obviously not enjoying everything that he was being forced to do… It had gotten too far when he had stood and watched as scales had been pulled out of the poor creature's tail, seeing the salty tears falling down his cheeks, the upset wails that surrounded them in a echo that would never leave their ears.

Deciding that enough was enough he had hidden in the buildings toilets, waiting till he was certain not a single human soul was in any radar of the building before he appeared out of the toilets and headed up the long stairs up to the top of the tank. His eyes falling on a afraid Mer, sighing softly as he saw him dive he decided to check all the meters were alright while he waited for Sherlock to return back to the surface. Seeing the temperature of the water he gasped at the heat of -25 degrees, turning it up instantly to a steady warm level, watching as the head of wet curls appeared from the stretch of water.

He smiled kindly and walked towards the ledge, brushing his fingers through the still freezing water. ''Hello there.'' He smiled kindly, slowly sitting down and kicking off his shoes and socks, letting his feet hang over the ledge and waiting till the water quickly heated up to a bearable temperature before he even attempted to dip his big toe into the tank. ''I thought it was about time you had a friend.'' He watched as the Merman broke out into a smile, knowing already that he had done the right thing. 


	4. Will You Be My Friend?

Sherlock stared at the human with untrusting eyes, unable to put trust into this human so soon, this had never happened before, never had they willingly been so close to the ledge of the tank.

The first problem the mer had was whether or not he should speak to the human, after making a point for so many years of refusing to speak any English to the point that they did not even know if he was capable of communicating.

His English had gotten so much better since he had been here, listening into the scientists conversations, he knew more about their secret whispers and goings on behind the tank thinking they had privacy when in reality they were in full view of the curious mer.

The next thing was again, this human was here, talking to him and poking his feet into the mer's water, which was wonderfully warm and cosy once again, stopping the shivers wrecking through his body as they had been.

After a long while of pure silent, blinking up into the navy eyes, his tail sliced through the water, ducking down to swim a cautious lap around the tank, building up the courage, trying to think of something they could do.

Finally a head of curls popped up out of the surface and once again the bright blue eyes met the navy pair and Sherlock took a deep breath. ''You know I could kill you...'' He spoke clearly, his voice deep and echoed as though he was speaking through water.

The human looked taken aback, blinking and slowly nodding his head, managing to keep his confidence as he took a deep breath and nodded his head again. "Of course you could, simply grab my ankle and keep me under the water until my silly human lungs run out of breath. But , I get the feeling that you need a friend just as much as I do.''

He answered, smiling and splashing his feet against the surface of a water, grinning as he water the little specks of water hit the mer right on the chest.

''Anyway, my name is John, John Watson. So you have a name?''

Sherlock tilted his head before nodding slowly, and honestly he had to think for a few seconds to remember the name that his mother had called him, it was on the tip of his tongue but just struggling to spill out into words.

"Sher- Sherlock, my name, is Sherlock. It means… bright hair, Mer usually have light pretty hair but I don't… It's… It's...''

''Ironic?'' The human grinned, eyes shining, pleased that the mer was beginning to open up, to trust him enough not only to speak to him but to tell him about himself.

''Ironic? What… What does that mean?'' He asked, tilting his head as he swam up towards the platform ledge, pulling himself up so his chest was above water, resting his head neatly on his folded arms.

''Well, Its when the opposite of what you assume to happen, happens, and you are amused by that fact.'' He shrugged, trying to explain the best way he could, and it looked as though Sherlock understood, smiling and rolling the word around his mouth silently, teaching himself to remember the word and meaning.

The room went silent for a while, both beings trying to understand the other, pondering over what were the right questions to ask, without being insulting or rude.

''Do you really want to be my friend?'' The mer blinked, eyes bright as he slowly sunk back into the water, arms waving around him to keep him above water, looking to the humans dangling legs. ''Be my friend… Come swim with me.'' He almost demanded, but in a sweet voice, really just wanting to swim with someone again.

As a child he was used to swimming with his mother and pack, together, they were safer together than they were alone, compact and sturdy, nothing could break them apart until one of them strayed.

That one had been Sherlock.

John took a deep breath and nodded in agreement, biting down on his lip as he pondered if it was exactly safe or not…

The stories, all the warnings, all the health and safety precautions, the stern talking to's. But was it all true? Would this creature really some kind of deadly monster or was he just like everybody else? Lonely and afraid of being this far away from home.

''Swim with me… the water is finally so warm.'' He smiled, splashing his hands against the water again, grinning largely and humming.

The human groaned and looked down at the water, before shaking his head, unable to shake away the feeling of fear that lay in his gut. They had warned him, he could not simply break the rules and attempt fate by putting himself in another dangerous situation, he had been in far too many of those in his lifetime. ''I am perfectly fine up here thank you, this is where us humans belong.'' He tried to politely decline the offer.

The mer was not impressed by this polite decline, he had been lonely for so long, they was no way he would ever hurt a human, he was not the type to ever hard anything never mind a living breathing life.

He took a deep breath and smiled softly, sinking down into the water.

''Upon one summer's morning, I carefully did stray, down by the walls of wapping, where I met a sailor, gay.''

Slowly reaching out his arm he smiled kindly, his webbed fingers spread as he reached out to touch the humans ankle, not dragging him into the water, but singing purely to him…. His song of a siren.

"Conversing with a young lass, who'd seem to be in pain, saying, William when you go I fear you'll never return again. My heart is pierced by cupid, I disdain all glittering gold, There is nothing that can console me, is my jolly sailor bold. "

His eyes shined, sinking below the water, grinning as he watched the human slip into the water, glad that he had one this battle, a pathetic battle it was, but still a victory.

"His fortune does succeed, 300,000 gold, he frowns upon his daughter, who loves a jolly sailor bold. A fig for his riches, his merchandise and gold. True love has grafted my heart, Give me my jolly sailor bold. '' He continued to serenade the man, watching as the human now swam to keep himself above the water.

"See! The water is lovely! And now I have a friend to swim with me!" The mer announced, smiling proudly that he had managed to get the human into the water so easily.

''Yes, Sherlock, it is lovely, but… you shouldn't… you shouldn't force people to do what you want them too. Even God made us have free will.'' He mumbled, slightly annoyed that he had been tricked… lured into the water by the mer so easily.

Sherlock pouted his lips and sighed slight, his tail slicing through the water sharply like a knife through a block of softened butter, swimming up beside the human and smiling to himself and wrapping his arms around his waist to stop him from sinking.

"I just made your choice easier! It;s fun swimming! See!" He giggled and splashed around slightly, disturbing the water. "But is John my friend now?" He asked happily.

"Yes, of course Sherlock, I am your friend." He laughed amused by the almost childish behavior of the mer.

The excited mer opened his mouth to talk but gasped as a sharp pain shot through his long elegant tail.

Bright red blood surrounded them, staining the water a awful sickening red, the mer's skin going pale and his body going stiff, dropping his hold on the human, he began to sink down into the massive depths of the tank. In too much pain to even attempt to stay above the surface, gills struggling to work.

John yelled in surprise as he was suddenly surrounded by his new friends blood, swimming towards the ledge he called out his name. ''Sherlock!" He cried out before his eyes met two security guards who stood, guns pointed down at the water as the third helped drag the scientist up out of the water.

''Y-you shot him?'' The blonde shivered, fear in his eyes as they all stared down into the pits of the water, no clear water left, stained red and bloody. ''Sherlock!" He screamed out again.


	5. Saving the Mer

Sherlock could feel his body failing him, his tail was useless as he hid the bottom of the tank with a heavy thud, gills struggling to draw oxygen from the water to keep him breathing.

He was going to drown… He was a Merman that was going to drown in his own tank of water, was that even possible?

Apparently so, purely from the fact the mer's body was completely giving up… and Sherlock found it in himself that he really did not care. What did he have here to live for? A few off bites of fish and a useless shrimp now and again?

A friendless life, only to ever be some kind of freak experiment?

~~~~~

John Watson though was not ready to let his new friend give up so easily,

looking around he frowned and looked up at the security men.

''Are you stupid?! You have just shot a creature of the sea! For no reason what so ever, He did not lure me in! I wanted to swim with him… he was alone and afraid. How would you feel being dragged away from your home, maybe even your parents as a young child and held up being treated like you were some kind of freak show for the rest of your life?'' He raged, eyes dark and his face red as he fumed, hands curling up into fists, wanting to do something… anything. But what could he do?

The security guard swallowed and took a step back, dropping his gun down and tucking it back under his jacket into the hollister.

John felt sick… torn between trying to save the mer or saving himself… should he really risk his own life for a creatures. Sherlock was innocent, a boy at heart… maybe even in the flesh they had no idea. A boy…

Suddenly he knew exactly what he needed to do.

He needed to save Sherlock.

And fast.

He stood up and looked down at the bright red water, knowing the depths were intense and eery, it would be more than a task… it would be a struggle… no, a risk.

Sherlock was worth the risk… besides, who knew if they were many more mermen? What if they were becoming extinct and it would be on his shoulders the day that finally happened?

With a deep breath he took a run and dive, not exactly skilled but not clumsily either, but it was good enough. He sunk down into the discoloured water, arms fighting against the force of water, trying to get down to the bottom of the tank. Ignoring the sharp pain in his lungs, he was sure tears would be streaming down his face by the sheer struggles.

Finally, finally he could see a shape curled up, the red darked, oozing out of the same place… Sherlock… Sherlock's tail.

The human wrapped his arm's around the frail body, pulling him up close to his chest and pushing his feet down against the bottom of the tank. The tail itself was ridiculously massive, and heavy… it was a chore and a half but John managed somehow.

His own lungs were just about to give up completely as he finally reached the surface of the water, letting out a strangled noise as he took a desperate breath, eyes watering, salty water dripping from his cheeks down into the pool water.

It took a few moments to get back even a little bit of strength back, enough to lift Sherlock up slightly and slide him onto the small platform, onto the bare floor, the security guards grabbed one arm and tugged the weight away from the edge so he would not fall in again. Making sure John would not have to repeat the whole draining process again.

Next the guards put their hands under John's arms and pulled him up out of the red mist of water, his skin tainted by the blood, dripping of water and struggling for air still but he managed to get up and out, laying down on the ledge and resting for a few moments as the feeling began to return in his arms and legs.

Sherlock.

Sherlock. Is he alright?

John sat up suddenly and crawled over to the life he had just saved, watching the blood still pumping out of the wound, skin pale and sickly looking… the body already looked half dead and it would not be long at all until it was completely dead.

The ex army doctor sighed and ran a hand through his soaked hair, looking around, his eyes landing on a bright green first aid box.

"Here! Get me that will you? Hurry!" He demanded, watching as the youngest of the guards ran over and grabbed the kit and a load of towels to mop up the blood and hopefully help in some other way.

Once the kit was in his hands he nodded and set to work, laying down the towels around the mers tail, frowning as he tried to figure out how to mend a hole in a giant tail.

Determined to try he dug through the first aid kit and found himself a pair of tweezers, thread, needle, antibacterial wipes and a few other things he would need.

Before he knew it he was busy removing the bullet from the injury, cleaning the wound and taking the needle and thread, slowly sewing up the hole with his steady doctor's hands.

It took a while but finally it was done and the bleeding had completely stopped, he had done a excellent job even if he said so himself.

With a proud huff he smiled and rested back on his bottom, his knees aching from being rested on for so long.

Now they just had to wait… wait to see if the merman would pull through… it was possible, but only if the creature had the determination and the willpower to do so.

John just prayed his efforts had not been for nothing .

It would be a while until they would be able to tell, but to make the wait easier John gathered a load of new towels and lay them over the mers freezing cold body, sighing softly as the guards returned to their stands and the human simply sat and waited, dressing in his dry, warm clothes.


End file.
